Here is how it works… when a GAN merchant link is detected in a Skimlinks publisher’s content, it will automatically convert to an active, affiliate link from the company’s network of more than 18,000 retailers.

If the former GAN merchant is not in the Skimlinks network, the overwrite will prevent the link from breaking, so that the affiliate can still potentially monetize it and earn a commission.

This update will not affect affiliates’ existing links posted for other networks.

Rakuten LinkShare has announced they’ve had continued growth for the second quarter of 2013.

The affiliate network spans the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan, and Australia.

Highlights of Q2 included:

An increase in same store sales in the U.S. by 30 percent year-over-year.

An increase in same store sales in the U.K. by 44 percent year-over-year.

An increase in same store sales in Canada by 31 percent year-over-year.

New advertisers that have joined the affiliate network include Orbitz, in the U.S.; River Island, Cook Trading Limited, and Country Attire in the UK; L’Occitane in Canada; and Atterley Road and Ferrari Store in Australia.

Also, as part of their Google Affiliate Network Migration Program, advertisers that have joined the Rakuten LinkShare network in the second quarter include Orbitz Worldwide and Cheaptickets.com.

This issue of FeedFront Magazine includes Let Structure Set You Free by Missy Ward, Networking for Introverts at Affiliate Summit by Shawn Collins, Five Benefits of Responsive Web Design by Rehan Zaidi, and the agenda for Affiliate Summit East 2013.

The conference includes three days with hundreds of exhibitors – the top advertisers, merchants, technology providers, and networks.

The networking goes on day and night during the conference with opportunities during 19 hours of exhibits, lots of networking parties, multiple catered meals, and the nearly two dozen roundtables.

Plus, there are more than 80 members of the Affiliate Summit speaker faculty, and over 35 hours of content in educational sessions covering the latest trends and information on affiliate management, attribution, blogging, fraud, legal, mobile, multi-channel, SEO, social media, UGC, video, WordPress, and more.

Affiliate Summit was founded by Missy Ward and Shawn Collins in 2003 for the purpose of providing educational sessions on the latest industry issues and fostering a productive networking environment for affiliate marketers.

Affiliate Summit East 2013 is close to selling out – don’t wait too long to try and register, or you could miss out.

Also, the AFFY Awards will be back to salute a few industry veterans for their outstanding industry achievements. This party is all about turning the spotlight back on the real superstars of our industry.

Be sure to RSVP for the Affiliate Ball. Passes will be emailed a week before the show or you can stop by the Affiliate Ball Meet Market table to pick them up in person.

The main sponsors are SocietyInvite and OasisAds, with AdSupply as a Gold level sponsor. Other sponsors include SellHealth, CallPixels and TrustedRevenue.

Only a few sponsorship’s and reserved tables remain. All sponsorship’s include lots of VIP hour passes.

If you or your company are interested in securing a sponsorship, contact Darren Blatt at info (at) affiliateball.com or visit AffiliateBall.com for more information.

The study found that content sites, such as editorial and social websites, consistently raise awareness of a brand or product, but rarely receive the financial reward for doing so, because of the inadequacies of the last click attribution model used in affiliate marketing.

Further, the study revealed that affiliate content sites can drive high volumes of new customers to online retailers.

Some key findings from the whitepaper, include…

Content sites were the last click only 6% of the time.

94 percent of the time, the content affiliate was NOT awarded the sale.

65% of the time when a content site is the first click in a purchase journey, sparking purchase intent, another channel is the last click, taking all the credit for the sale.

Content sites drove nearly 30% more new customers to brand sites than the average of all other channels when a user began the purchase journey by reading a content site.

When consumers started by reading a content site about a product, their desire to purchase grew with time: 9% of the sales occurred within one hour, 16% within 24 hours, 31% happened within 3 days.

It’s great to see this issue being discussed, and as a content affiliate, I have one thing to say: SHOW ME THE MONEY!

Affiliate Summit East 2013 is taking place August 18-20, 2013 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, PA.

This three day conference included an exhibit hall with affiliate merchants, vendors, and networks, as well as multiple tracks of educational sessions covering the latest trends and information from affiliate marketing experts.

The Networking Plus passes sell for $549 and they include admission to the Meet Market, exhibit hall, and keynotes; some educational sessions throughout the conference; and access to all recorded session videos.

Winners have all been notified. Here is a list of the lucky 50 people…

Steve Adams

JJ Alan

Mia Brown

Carey Buck

MF Calhoun

Robert Campos

William Carberry

Sue Caskey

Blaine Cline

Michael Colfin

Anita Decker

Larua Eder

Nancy Eder

Andrea Finestrauss

James Flint

Greg Gallagher

Tom Giannelli

Kristyn Golier

Wioleta Gramek

Matthew Guerra

Leon Gurevich

Judith Hunter

Craig Johnson

Jarod Karns

Dave Katz

Derek Kenner

Christian Kleiner

Jan Knop

Debra Kology

Robert Kottke

Cecilia Lane

Steve Lapa

Lisa Melvin

Natalie Moreno

Erin Pecchia

Stephen Perry

Jason Silverglate

Jeremy Snapp

Marty Steele

Silver Stoltsen

Gary Stratton

Julie Sutherland

Matthew Topham

Owen Vahey

Jack Weiss

Rhonda Wenner

Danielle Willett

Stephen Wyjadka

Robert Zadra

Aliaa Zulkifi

If your name is listed below and you haven’t heard from us, yet, with a registration code, please contact us and we will resend it.